Doubts on Ethanol

In its October issue, Consumer Reports takes a detailed look at E85 ethanol and finds the glass half-empty, despite government and industry enthusiasm for biofuels.

The magazine’s study, which included road tests of a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe that runs on either gasoline or E85 ethanol (a gasoline blend that is 85 percent ethanol), concluded that although E85 “emits less smog-producing pollutants than gasoline,” it “provides fewer miles per gallon, costs more and is hard to find outside the Midwest.”